1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to safety enclosures and foot valves, and more particularly to a foot valve safety cover apparatus that protects the foot and upper body of the operator from injury in the event of a failure.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
In the waterblast industry high-pressure fluids are conducted through a valve and spray gun or cleaning lance for directing a high-pressure blast of fluid, such as water, against various surfaces such as concrete, metal, and the inside of tubes and vessels to clean unwanted deposits therefrom. Typically the fluid stream employed has a pressure in the range of from about 5,000-40,000 psi.
Foot-operated valves are commonly used in tube cleaning operations where the operator must manipulate the cleaning lance by hand. Typically, the foot valve consists of a base, a valve (typically mounted to the base), a pedal for operating the valve, and a pedal guard.
The primary function of prior art foot pedal guards is to merely protect the pedal from accidental contact by foreign objects, much like the trigger guard of a firearm. Most prior art pedal guards are from round bar, tubing, or sheet metal bent into a generally U-shaped configuration.
Although these types of pedal guards protect the foot pedal from accidental contact by foreign objects, they do not protect the operator in the event of a valve, lance, fitting or hose failure. Thus, even though a pedal guard may cover the foot valve, the operator is still exposed to injury from flying valve or lance components, hoses, fittings, and high-pressure fluid streams in the event of a failure. The prior art pedal guards are also not effective in protecting the lance, hose and fittings of a high-pressure valve from accidental breakage from the foot of the operator.
A typical foot valve and a U-shaped skeletal enclosure formed of tubing of the type used in the waterblast industry is shown and described with reference to FIG. 4 in U.S. Pat. No. 5,423,348 commonly owned with this application and hereby incorporated herein by reference.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,496,811 discloses a box-like safety enclosure having an open top and four upstanding side walls for enclosing the sides of a foot switch to prevent accidental actuation of the switch. One of the upstanding walls of the enclosure is pivotally movable against the urging of a closure spring to a lowered position the enable the foot of the operator to engage the switch.
The present invention is distinguished over the prior art in general, and these patents in particular by a safety cover for foot valves that has a base plate for supporting a valve body and a foot pedal cover portion including a front wall and laterally opposed side walls extending upwardly from the base plate and a top wall extending between upper ends thereof. The front wall has an aperture through which the foot lever of the valve extends and laterally opposed side extensions having a vertical portion extending outward from respective lateral sides of the front wall and a forwardly extending horizontal top portion at the upper end thereof spaced a distance above the base plate. A valve body having a fluid inlet, a fluid outlet, and a valve element therein connected with a foot lever extending outwardly from the body is secured into the base plate with its foot lever extending through the aperture in the front wall of the cover. The front, top and side walls of the cover partially surround the foot receiving portion of the foot lever and protect the foot of the operator from injury in the event of a failure. The laterally opposed side extensions partially surround hose and lance fittings that are connected with and extend outwardly from the valve body and protect the upper body of the operator from injury in the event of a failure, and also protect the fittings from damage by the foot of the operator.